This invention pertains to a protective cover for an electrical box having an open front, mounting an electrical device, such as an electrical switch or an electrical outlet, and having a plaster ring having a generally rectangular aperture. As improved by this invention, the top and bottom flanges of the protective cover are curved at their lateral portions, whereby to eliminate sharp edges that tend to impede proper use of a router or a saw blade to cut an accommodating aperture in a wall panel.
As exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,043 and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,166,329, it has been known heretofore to employ a protective cover, which is made of steel, for an electrical box having an open front, mounting an electrical device, such as an electrical switch or an electrical outlet, and having a plaster ring, which fastens to the electrical box, around the open front of the electrical box, and which has a projecting portion defining a generally rectangular aperture providing access to the electrical device, through the open front of the electrical box, after the electrical box, the electrical device, and the plaster ring have been installed behind a wall panel, such as a drywall panel.
As known heretofore, the protective cover is mountable removably to the plaster ring so as substantially to cover the generally rectangular aperture of the plaster ring, whereby to protect the electrical device against foreign matter, such as dust and debris, and against damage, such as damage from a router bit or from a saw blade, while an aperture accommnodating the projecting portion of the plaster ring is cut into the wall panel, or against foreign matter, such as paint, wallpaper adhesive, or drywall-finishing material, i.e., so-called xe2x80x9cmudxe2x80x9d, while the wall panel is being decorated near the aperture accommodating the projecting portion of the plaster ring. If the protective cover were not utilized and if the router or the saw blade were to slip, the electrical device could be badly damaged.
At least as early as 1997, a protective cover was available commercially from Ideal Products, Inc. of Wichita, Kan., which cover had lateral formations adapted to coact with lateral edges of the generally rectangular aperture of the projecting portion of a plaster ring, whereby to mount the cover removably to the plaster ring so as substantially to cover the generally rectangular aperture of the plaster ring.
Although the protective covers known heretofore may function well to protect an electrical device against foreign matter, damage, or both, as discussed above, the protective covers known heretofore have sharp edges that tend to impede proper use of a router or a saw blade to cut an accommodating aperture in a wall panel. Installers using those edges to guide a router or a saw blade find it difficult to turn the router or the saw blade abruptly at comers where those edges meet.
This invention improves a protective cover having a front panel, a top flange, a bottom flange, and two lateral flanges, for use with an electrical box having a plaster ring, as explained above. This invention eliminates eliminate sharp edges that tend to impede proper use of a router or a saw blade to cut an accommodating aperture in a wall panel.
The top flange has a flat, central portion and two lateral portions, each lateral portion curving downwardly to a lower edge, which is spaced by a slit from an upper edge of one of the lateral flanges. The bottom flange has a flat, central portion and two lateral portions, each lateral portion curving upwardly to an upper edge, which is spaced by a slit from a lower edge of one of the lateral flanges. The slits permit the lateral flanges to flex.
Preferably, the front panel meets each of the lateral flanges at a curved edge, which meets each of the lateral portions of the top and bottom flanges at a rounded corner. Preferably, the curved edges and the lateral portions of the top and bottom flanges are curved similarly. Preferably, each of the curved edges and each of the lateral portions of the top and bottom flanges are curved so as to have an exterior radius of approximately 0.25 inch.
Because the slits permit the lateral flanges to flex, the lateral flanges can have respective formations similar to lateral formations of the aforementioned cover that was available commercially from Ideal Products, Inc. of Wichita, Kan., and adapted to coact with lateral edges of the generally rectangular aperture of the projecting portion of a plaster ring, whereby to mount the cover removably to the plaster ring so as substantially to cover the generally rectangular aperture of the plaster ring.
In one contemplated embodiment of this invention, the protective cover has a unitary shell, which is made from steel, which comprises at least marginal portions of the front panel, and which comprises the top, bottom, and lateral flanges. The front panel of the steel shell can have one or more windows, each having a transparent sight made from a transparent, polymeric material, as disclosed in the aforementioned application, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
In an alternative embodiment of this invention, the protective cover in its entirety is made from a transparent, polymeric material, as disclosed in the aforementioned application, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.